Tomb Raider: Origins
by Wicked Lara
Summary: 'Are you sure you want to go there' her father had asked her only two weeks ago, worried that she might never come back. 'It could be dangerous. I won't be around to help you, dear.' 'I'll be okay.'
1. The awakening

**Disclaimer: We don't own Lara Croft and Kurtis, sadly. Both characters and their original stories belong to Core Design, Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix respectively.**

**A/N: This is a story written by Cris and Lena. Lena is writing the odd chapters. Cris writes the pair ones. **

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**CHAPTER 1: The awakening**

_Cold._ There was nothing more Lara could feel, only the cold, almost freezing wind on her face. For a second she thought that she would be at home, thought that she forgot to go inside after sunbathing so that this breeze was only a result of the upcoming August night, the water on her face only rain.

But reality was much more dangerous. Upon opening her eyes she noticed a small torch on the opposite site of the room, the flame upside down on the wall, as if someone hung it up upside down – but as her mind got clearer, as her heartbeat suddenly got much faster, she realized that fire would never burn towards the ground, it was not possible to fire a torch upside down. And that only left one conclusion.

_She was the one hanging bottom up._

No wonder it took her that long to figure out that there was something wrong. The blood that flew in her head gave her a bad headache and dizziness, making it almost impossible to get a clear thought. But now, while the adrenalin outweighed the cold and her unclear thoughts, it downed on her. She was not at home, not even in Great Britain or Europe. She was in Asia, countless miles away from the save walls of her home, all alone. No one was here, no one would get her out this time, no one would save her.  
'Are you sure you want to go there?' her father had asked her only two weeks ago, worried that she might never come back. 'It could be dangerous. I won't be around to help you, dear.'  
And what did she tell him? 'I'll be okay.' Nothing more. She did not even bother to tell him that she loved him before she got on the ship. And now she might die within a giant cocoon that pressed her arms to tightly against her body that it felt as if a few rips were already broken. Tears were burning in her eyes, tears she would not allow to flow down her face; or up, in this case.

Again, she felt a cold breeze on her skin and looked up, trying to figure out what this room was all about: Torches were placed all over the walls, even near the ceiling were she was hanging. The ground was full of dirt, bones and blood – and at least for the last one she could see where it came from. Beside her, in another cocoon right next to her, hung a young woman approximately in her age, the head swinging loosely in the wind, the face red with dried blood that obviously must have come from the huge cut right below her chin. Her hair was still reflecting the light of the fire no more than a few steps away from her, as if she was only - …

'Fire!', Lara thought, glancing at the red flame not far away. 'I could burn this cage down!'

Maybe it was not a good idea after all, but she was left with no other choice for the moment. Yes, she could still feel the knife that she had always carried in her shoe since one of the men on the Endurance drunkenly tried to rape her, but she could not even move her hand more than half a centimeter. And if she was sure about one thing, even though being not capable of making hard decisions due to the blood in her head, it was that she would be dead by morning's dawn if she would not get going already. The fact that no one was around at the moment was enough luck, no one could keep her from running away now – but still she felt that she could lose her consciousness any second.

"I gotta get out of here!", Lara murmured, trying to keep herself focused, and started shifting her weight back and forth until her cocoon touched the one of the dead woman, forcing it to move with hers, again and again. The movement resulted in her feeling sicker than ever before, probably because she had been upside down for an unknown amount of time; but she stayed strong, swallowing every five seconds while she was still moving herself towards the corpse. If she was lucky, her cocoon would burn down within seconds – for the cloth they were wrapped in seemed to be dry – and the fire would spread onto her own 'prison'.

Unfortunately, that she would be falling about six feet down onto the ground without knowing what might be there downed on her a few seconds too late. Immediately she gasped while the fire destroyed layer after layer of cotton, tried to grab an intact part of the cloth – and burned herself so badly, she reflexively let go.

Her scream must have woken up everyone that might have been near this cave, but she could not care about that yet. Her luck seemed to have disappeared when she fell down for she landed on a spear, piercing her waist and resulting in enormous blood loss when she finally brought herself to pull it out of her flesh – which not only made her feel very dizzy but also mixed up hallucinations with the horrible reality. As soon as she stood up, tremblingly holding the wound to hold back the blood, she saw her father standing right in front of her, watching her with this disappointed glance he was best in. It was easy to ignore that, though, because she knew that he could never be here – he was probably sitting at home with a whiskey in his hand or planning out his next big treasure hunt.

It was by far harder to walk right through Kurtis. She had not been the most liked person on the Endurance; in fact, no one noticed her for she was not a soldier, only a young archeologist. No one but Kurtis smiled at her and sat with her during the midday meal. He was quite attractive with his long dark hair and those ocean blue eyes that never stared at her cleavage, the obvious muscles he always hid with an oversized shirt and a jacket, even though there was no need to. And then there was this scar right beneath his left eye. Lara had caught herself often enough wanting to touch it out of sheer sympathy; almost as often as she woke up screaming in the middle of the night noticing his warm body right beside her, his strong arms holding her in order to calm her down. He never said a word about it to anyone, he just stood up when he thought that she was having a nightmare again, lying down next to her waiting until she fell asleep again. After a few days, Lara was not even able to sleep until he came over from the other side of the room where his bed had been; but he never even asked about her dreams, never tried to kiss her as many other men had, not only on the ship.

Maybe it was because of his little sister Annabelle. He had told Lara about her after the third night, when she had dreamt too worse to get back to sleep, when her pulse was going way too fast and the only thing that kept her from freaking out were his warmth and his arms around her.  
'She had been seven when the nightmares began', he had murmured in a soft voice, 'and she always came into my bed, waking me up around midnight. At first I was annoyed by it – as a sixteen year old boy I always wanted to have my privacy and didn't care about my little sister – but after a while I started waiting for her. It was always the same, every night: She came in with her tiny stuffed animal, tears flowing down her face, asking me if she could sleep next to me. I guess, in the end, I just wanted to protect her since my parents had died a long time ago and I knew that our new foster father was abusing her. But when I finally had the chance to stop him from touching her, he pulled out a gun and just shot her.' At that point, Lara had reflexively grabbed his shirt, trying to hold back the anger his story had caused within her. But he only stroked her back. 'It was as if he was killing the only thing that I had have left, my family. And she was so innocent… Her blood on my hands, when I gave up shaking and trying to wake her, made me feel not only helpless but I also came to the conclusion that I had nothing to lose anymore – so I made him let go of his pistol and beat him with a lamp until I was completely sure he wasn't breathing anymore. It wasn't the right thing to do, of course not, but he deserved it for raping an innocent little girl, leaving her with nightmares and pain.' She had known that he had been watching her for some time now, but as she stayed silent he only pulled the blanket a bit higher and placed it neatly over her shaking body. 'I ran away after that, before my foster mother called the police, and did the only thing I could do: I went to the foreign legion, changed my surname and tried to forget about the psychological pain I had to deal with, so I myself ended up having nightmares, just like you do.' His voice had suddenly lost that kind of bitter sound it had always had. 'If there is anything you need to get off your chest, you can tell me. I won't tell anyone about it, I just … sometimes it helps to have someone to talk to. Maybe it would help you to get more sleep.'  
But she had stayed silent and counted his breaths until she fell asleep again.

Right now the memory didn't actually help her, she was still somewhere in Asia without food, water or an idea of what was real and what was only illusion, but seeing his face calmed her down enough to go on. Maybe he was already dead. Maybe his death had been fast and painless. For more she could not hope while she grabbed one of the torches, took a deep breath and went in the only direction possible. Out of this cave. Down to the ship. Or whatever was left of it after the crash.


	2. The cave

**CHAPTER 2: The cave**

How long had she been hanging from the cocoon? Hours, minutes, maybe days. She wouldn't know it either. The blazing light was the only source of hope Lara had in that moment. Her left hand grabbed the torch with strength, her knuckles almost in pain. Her right hand firmly pressed the wound in her waist, covering her palm with blood. She had to lean against the wall when her limp threatened to trip her on the dirty floor, and Lara knew that once she loses off balance, she would probably never get up again; she would stay on her length, dying slowly, bleeding until being part of the collection of corpses garnishing that dark and smelly place, and not even her father would have the right to bury her body and mourn her farewell.

She felt weak, never been so physically damaged in her twenty-five years old, not even the amount of time she spent in the training course could hurt her this way. It was like thousands of needles trying to rip her skin off, causing endless painful moans escaping out her mouth.

"What is this place?" her eyes opened through the burning light, trying to figure out what was going on there. She could see black dyed with red spots everywhere, probably rocks and blood. More blood. And just before her, a man: a man hanging from their arms, his head lowered. Immobile. Inert.

Dead.

"Oh, god…", Lara whispered as the veil covering her eyes disappeared. "Steph…" She recognized the corpse, not even the blood on his face could conceal the man's identity; not even the amount of candles down his feet made her think of anything correct but of a satanic ritual she could have testified in her unconsciousness, while sleeping prone. She vaguely remembered the man, usually dressed up with an accurate outfit and clean boots walking around the deck, greeting her with a slight gesture with his hand, acting discreet. She never had heard about his name until that time in the half empty dinning room inside the ship, when he sat in front of her with a salad bowl and a plate of soup, surprising her loneliness. Not even Kurtis used to eat close to Lara. He apparently liked to leave her closeness to his nocturne dreams. And the young archaeologist could still remember the man's voice while the torch currently illuminated his pale body. It was the first and only time he spoke to her:

"Hello. I suppose you're Miss Lara Croft", the man had said as he introduced a spoonful of steamy soup in his mouth. The young woman looked at him with disbelief. "I am". She bet her voice sounded icy, because the older outlined a generous smile which made Lara's eyes opened like oranges. "Do not worry. I won't bite." He had said joyfully, ignoring the irritation that covered Lara's face and mading her clear her throat. She was ready to stand up from the chair and leave the room because it only brought bad memories and uncomfortable feelings to her: the occasion when that nasty member of the crew tried to rape her, the choking feeling of being treated like a mere toy among all the men around, just because she was a Croft. The fact of Kurtis being the only exception. "Sorry". The man whispered to calm the lady down. "My name's Stephan Razernor, but you can call me Steph". Lara had gazed at him with frown eyebrows and sat down back. She didn't show any trace of gratitude. She was cold as ice. "Okay, Steph. What do you want?", she had asked. The man drew a gentle smile again and said just before leaving one more spoonful of soup in his mouth: "I made sure Matt won't put a finger on you never in his life".

She knew what Stephan was talking about, she had the proof of her battered soul inside her shoe, the stinging proof, and she had not removed it neither at night, not even when Kurtis was embracing her. In the present, she could grab it firmly and stabbing herself in the chest. A painful death, but it was the only possible way she had in scope, although she wouldn't do that. Lara turned away from the dead man, not looking back. She needed to follow the path to a way out there, forgetting every sign of massacre her eyes were watching. But there was blood everywhere. She wondered what kind of monster could have damaged Steph this way, how many members of the crew could have been treated as equally. She could regard herself as lucky. She was alive after all, but God knew what was waiting for her in the way. Would she see the sunshine again? It wasn't difficult to figure out where she was as drops of water falling from the top splashed her hair and skin, the flagrant wetness smell as she advanced in her only possible direction. She was trapped in a cave.

Unexpectedly something broke down her feet and Lara shuddered. The broken skulls trodden by her boots brought chills in her spine. Wait, it was not _exactly _a cave_..._

She was trapped in a tomb.

In her _own_ damn tomb if her possibilities were in vain.

It was getting darker and suddenly something blocked her steps. She didn't have an idea of what was going on until the light allowed her to see a barricade of barrels, wooden slats and fabrics. Someone might have built the obstacle on purpose, knowing that the prisoners would have the choice to escape out there. She would not be the one to lean back from that. Without thinking, she approached the torch and burned it all off, coughing the smoke out of her lungs.

The water was currently filling her boots. Her thirst surprised her as her feet shivered in its freshness. She had just realized how much body water she had lost since her stay in there, suddenly noting the dryness in her tongue. For God's Sake, she was sweating, and the fire only made it more obvious. She looked down at the transparent liquid and wondered if it would be a good idea drinking it, even though only to wet her palate. She refused anyway, maybe if she could find an escape out there it could exist some lagoons or rivers at the outside. Otherwise, what about the drops falling from the top of the rocks? That could be a good sign.

"I need to find a way out".

She had to hunker aside, her back rubbing against the cold stone, so her body could fit in a tight hole leading to the other side. She wasn't expecting what she would find there anyway. Maybe more corpses hanging from their arms, but instead, she found dark. Her brown eyes narrowed as the torch set some chandeliers on fire, so the new "room" could be clearly seen. Lara found another "door" at her left, and she felt the bubbling blood out her waist as her legs propelled ready for a jump. "Agh!" Lara screamed as she made an effort to get up to the wall. The pain was unbearable. She had nothing to relieve the stinging wound in her waist, and she needed anything as soon as possible. Her hand would not be available to cover it forever…

Lara gasped as something grabbed her leg. Turning back her head, her nails scratched the grit as an unknown man with an uncommon makeup splashed across his face and naked body pulled from her ankle. From where did he appear? Were there more men like him? Was he the one who murdered Steph? "Let me go! Please, let me go!" She cried as the stranger diabolically laughed. He spoke in a language Lara misunderstood; it wasn't in the linguistic fields she had learnt at the career. But she was sure the man would not stop stalking her until scraping her flesh with the knife waiting between his fingers…

Hopefully, she still preserved strength, and it was just a mere kick in the male's nose to make him howl harmfully and escape from his fury, losing it away from her. But without being aware of the mystery that would follow in the next section of the tomb, the girl started to run. Suddenly, the cold rocks and stones in which she stumbled and tried to crawl disappeared like magic, and during two seconds Lara felt herself like falling into the nothing, until her back crashed against something tough and her fear increased as her body ride a slide made of rocks, pressing her fingers around the torch as if her life depended on it. "No! Stop it" She shouted, just before starting to roll violently and scratching her skin like blades. Is that the place had begun to tremble? Why were there rocks falling like gigantic dangerous snowflakes and threatening on smashing her head? Why the ledge in which she ran had just broke up in two pieces? Is that it wasn't enough for her on looking for a way out? If the frightful cliff that suddenly opened under her feet did not kill her before, her jumps would.

But it was then when a emerging brightness from some sort of sacred place emboldened Lara to hurry up her steps, holding the torch with strength and ignoring the hurt in her waist and the burning in her knuckles as she escaped from the death to her only possible direction, while Roth watched her from afar, calling her name again and again so she could do her last jump before falling down to the ocean…

She thought becoming blind when the sunlight hit her like a hammer.


	3. The healing

**CHAPTER 3: The healing**

For a few minutes Lara just lay on the ground, breathing deeply, when suddenly a heartbreaking sob exited her mouth. All of a sudden she did not only feel so incredibly lonely and helpless – the adrenaline that had been rushing through her body had disappeared, leaving her with breathtaking pain and hopelessness. Although she had been able to escape, had been able to get out of this cave – or tomb – alive, she had no clue how she should go on from now on. There was no one around to help her, and even though she had been trained well in survival skills and combat, no one would have been able to prepare her for this.

After a while, Lara slowly opened her eyes, her eyelids flattering against the bright light, and tried to hold back the sobs until she was entirely sure that no inhabitant of this island, someone as sane as the man that tried to grab her ankle, would find her here, injured and in need of a good therapist. Or someone to simply hold her. Or maybe just a doctor. She could not tell at this very moment, her thoughts rushed through her heads like the cars and motorcycles she had seen on the fast lane in New York City when she got there a few weeks ago, not knowing what she would get herself into. And one thing was clear: This was for sure not the adventure she had been searching for. Not at all. But there was no way back now – and she would have to learn how to deal with her nightmares in a strange, dangerous environment. All alone.

When she was finally able to see clearly, Lara took a deep breath and slowly lifted herself from the ground, one hand pressed on the throbbing wound at her waist. When did she get her last tetanus shot? She could not remember. Did she get one when she got onto the Endurance? All of the soldiers did for sure. But the archaeologists?

"Okay", the young woman whispered, forcing herself to stand up straight and ignore the dizziness that caused so many confusions in her head. "Infections aren't the only possible problems. I have to concentrate now. _I have to._"

From where she was standing, she could see the horizon at the very end of the sea in front of her, where waves peacefully crumbled the water, glittering in the last sunlight of the day. And there, right next to a couple of rocks, there laid the Endurance … or whatever was left of it. The entire ship was broken in two parts, the front and the back, and even from the distance Lara could see a few dead bodies in and around the breaking point. People she knew, maybe even liked. She could not recognize their faces, but she knew their hair colors, their clothing, the small rubber wristbands that marked them as soldiers, archaeologists, journalists, cooks … She could not help but felt a sudden piercing pain in her heart. Was Kurtis lying there, face down in the salty sea water? Would she even recognize his face after such a long time – and she was very sure that days must have been passed – or would she only remember him for that tiny, adorable shine in his bright blue eyes? They had always reminded her of the sea, made her feel comfortable when she was looking at him during their midnight conversations, when she had confessed the reason of her nightmares to him, knowing that when the sun rose, he would not even look at her. By then, the sea had always been something wonderful for her. Now she could not even dare to think about the deep blue, fascinating color of his eyes without feeling the need to vomit. And what about everyone else? They killed Steph, one of the two persons who spoke to her without assuming that she would be a little girl or a spoiled aristocrat only because she was a Croft. Because thinking about it, Kurtis's attempts to keep his distance where not different from what the other soldiers had done; except Matt, of course, but he paid for his sins with his life.

Carefully, Lara stepped towards the edge of the cliff she was standing on and turned around slowly. There was no way back, the cave was closed. Not that she even considered going back, but the woods did not seem very inviting either – and the shipwreck to her feet would only cause her anxiety if she tried to go there. Who knew, maybe one of the survivors had gone mad and would attack her to get something to eat; she herself already felt starved and thirsty, no way everyone had found food and water this fast. Of course, the crash had knocked her out for quite a great amount of time, but none of the people on the Endurance knew how to hunt or where to get water. No one. Not even Roth, Kurtis or Steph. Only … yes, Ben had jokingly told her that he was amazing at hunting for he had always been out in the wilderness with his father when he had just been a boy. If he was still alive, he should be well and in no need of anything to eat. If he had found weaponry, certainly. If not … well, he would most likely be aggressive already from not having anything to chew on. He had always been the one that never had stopped eating – his stomach probably felt as if it was filled with nails.

Scatterbrained, Lara took another deep breath, wiped the almost dried tears from her cheeks and closed her eyes for no longer than a second. She had to go down to the wreck in order to find anything useful that would get her through another night, maybe another day. Even if there would only be a bag of potato chips left, or a can of preserved peaches, it would be enough to keep her hands from shaking the way they did now. Plus, she could try to find someone else, another survivor, who could help her to stay alive – if he still was in his right mind.

Cautiously, Lara leaned of the sharp edge of the cliff and bit her lip before slowly making her way down to the shore. All throughout her way down she wondered how that weak, rather short man had been able to carry her all the way up here and had to stop for a moment when she realized that the blocked entry might not be the only entrance. With that thought in mind, she enhanced her speed, stumbled more than she climbed and almost fell when she finally reached the ground.

There was so much blood on the sand. So many dead people that had not deserved to die, especially not this way, pierced by sharp, spear like rocks, crashed by the weight of some of the metallic parts of the ship, drowned by the gigantic amount of water that had been splashing their lungs so suddenly … But still, Lara was able to keep herself focused and concentrated. She had to find something – anything! – useful around here, maybe even on the dead bodies. No weapons, certainly; the ones they had been using as soldiers all along were not made for being dipped in water, they were useless now. Plus, she had only been using them once when Steph had tried to teach her how to use a pistol, claiming that she was a natural and he would convince Roth to give her a USP of her own if she ever got into a fight or had to hunt. She had not been answering back then – now she could not wish for anything else than for him to give her a weapon of any kind, just so that she would stay alive. Starving to death was painful, she knew that, and killing herself was out of the question. She would never go down without a fight.

Passing one of the dead bodies, a young soldier – at least the red color of his wristband indicated that – she had never seen before, a small object on his belt caught her attention. Carefully Lara bowed down towards it and grabbed it, trying not to touch the boy, before she pulled it away as strongly as she possibly could. The motionless body lifted with the object, causing the survivor to throw up right away, but in the end she held a functioning yellow radio in her hand, with a microphone and an antenna attached to it. Maybe she could reach someone with it? She would have to try it out as soon as possible.  
After attaching the radio to her own belt, Lara went on, away from the young man. She did not even know what she was searching for exactly, but she really needed something to cover up her wounds and disinfect them. In the end, what she found between the dead bodies and ship parts was almost nothing: A tiny water bottle filled with saltwater to clean the wounds, some bandages, a small package containing two crackers. No weapons, not even knives. Either they laid somewhere at the bottom of the ocean … or someone already took them. And if she was honest, she preferred the first alternative.

The young archaeologist walked a few miles away from the ship wreck, just so that she would not be faced with all those emotionless eyes watching her, sat down on the sandy ground and put all her findings in front of her. Then, for a few seconds, she just listened to the waves, before she rolled up her top and took a first look at the wound she got from falling on a rusty, long nail. And it really looked bad. There was still blood flowing down her side, she could even see a part of the last rib peeking through, and the edges looked as if someone had pushed their fist right on through her. But it was not a shock at all – she had known that the second she had pulled that thing out of her body. The worst thing was that she would have to get the salty water on that wound without screaming too loudly, if that creepy guy was still around and looking for her. So she grabbed the small bottle containing the disinfecting fluid, held her breath, bit her lip and squeezed some of the content right onto the torn flesh.

It did not hurt, no. The pain she felt was bigger than any words could describe, the sudden feeling of having a million tiny swords stabbed into her body was almost knocking her out once again. Only her strength and willpower kept her conscious – and the hope that there still was someone who would be able to help her somehow. At least she had not yet found the body of Kurtis, Roth or Ben; and she was quite certain those were the only people that would actually bother to help her out. Unfortunately, this thought only increased her pain. Even when she grabbed one of the bandages and tried to tie it around her waist as neatly as possible, she still felt sick and dizzy, weak and vulnerable. The fact that she had to vomit a few minutes ago – or had already an hour passed? Her wristwatch had stopped at exactly 4 AM, so she did not know how much time she had spent looking for useful items – only made her feel worse for now she really was starving, and the two crackers were not exactly helpful.

After the throbbing in her waist finally got better, Lara continued with the slash wound on her right arm. It did not hurt quite as much when she poured the disinfectant, but still, her body was shaking and by far not able to bear any more pain, any more suffering. She quickly tied the loose knot in the bandage, put on of the ends in between her teeth and breathed heavily before lashing it up tightly. A small, high-pitched scream came out of her mouth, followed by even more sobs and tears. She ate both crackers within four minutes, trying to get it to stay in her stomach instead of coming up again. By now the sun had already been gone down, but somehow the darkness did not frighten her at all, nor did the noise coming from far, far away. She only listened to the sound of the waves, got back to the ship wreck and found a backpack with a small emergency blanket within. After that, she quickly headed somewhere she thought of as north judging by the stars on the clear sky until she came into the woods and found a small hiding place, not more than a natural cave. She placed the backpack on the ground, pulled the blanket out and wrapped it around her shaking shoulders.

She only noticed the freshly used fireplace minutes later.


End file.
